Social Change and its Ecological Effects in Village England

Project Status: Completed (See Final Report Summary)
Type of Project: Scoping Study
Principal Investigator: Dr Martin Phillips, University of Leicester (Email)

 

Objectives

This interdisciplinary scoping study will address rural environmental change through integrated approaches and methodologies derived from the social and biological sciences. The main focus of this nature-society study is the impact of rural gentrification on the enrolment and modification of nature within village space. Previous studies have demonstrated the heterogeneity of rural gentrification, which has social, economic, political and cultural dimensions, but have failed to explicitly consider the ‘extra social’ or ‘natural’ dimensions. These environmental aspects of rural gentrification provide the innovative focus for this study.

A key component of the proposed research will be to document the range of ‘agencies of nature’ drawn upon in creating a desire for rural residency in one gentrifying village, and to consider their significance against a range of social agencies identified in earlier studies. The project will explore the degree to which differing conceptions of and relations to nature are held by rural social groups, including those identified as gentrifiers, and will assess these in the light of data obtained from ecological field surveys of land within and around the village envelope. The process of rural gentrification involves transformation of both rural built and rural ‘natural’ environments (with impacts ranging from domestication, through simplification to obliteration), thus this study will also explore the degree to which gentrifiers are actively involved in transforming rural biological diversity. The study outcomes will lead to an improved understanding of rural population change and its impact on rural environmental change; they will also inform social and economic debates on public and consumer perceptions and expectations associated with rural lifestyles.

Conference proceedings

Phillips, M. (2005) “Rural gentrification and the production of nature: a case study from Middle England” in Ramirez, B. (ed.) Papers from the 4th International Conference of Critical Geography, Mexico City.

Working Papers/Briefing Papers

Page, S., Saratsi, E. and Phillips, M. (2005) “Ecological survey: initial results” Gentrifying Nature: Working Paper 8, Department of Geography, University of Leicester.

Phillips, M., Page, S., Saratsi, E., Tansey, K. and Moore, K. (2006) “Diversity, scale and green landscapes in the gentrification process” Gentrifying Nature: Working Paper 4, Department of Geography, University of Leicester.

Phillips, M., Page, S. and Saratsi, E. (2005) “Identifying gentrifying green spaces in a Leicestershire village” Gentrifying Nature: Working Paper 6, Department of Geography, University of Leicester.

Phillips M. (2005) “Rural gentrification and the production of nature” Gentrifying Nature: Working Paper 3 Department of Geography, University of Leicester.

Phillips, M., Page, S. and Saratsi, E. (2005) “Rural gentrification: from a building to a dwelling and living perspective” Gentrifying Nature: Working Paper 5, Department of Geography, University of Leicester.

Phillips, M., Saratsi, E. and Page, S. (2005) “Social survey: initial results” Gentrifying Nature: Working Paper 7, Department of Geography, University of Leicester.

Saratsi, E. Phillips, M and Page, S. (2006) “Gentrification as a driver of ecological change in the countryside” Gentrifying Nature: Working Paper 2 Department of Geography, University of Leicester.

Saratsi E, Phillips M and Page S (2006) “Studies of residential green space” Gentrifying Nature: Working Paper 1 Department of Geography, University of Leicester.

Phillips, M. (2006) ‘Rural gentrification and nature’ Gentrifying Nature: Working Paper 3, Department of Geography, University of Leicester

Conference Papers and Presentations

Page, S. (2005) "Gentrifying nature: ecological perspectives" Presentation to Nature, Environment and Society: Rural Economy and Land Use Workshop University of Leicester, Leicester.

Prell, C., Stringer, L.C. and Reed M.S. (2005) “Adapting to future change in the Peak District”, Presentation to Moors for the Future National Conference, Castleton, September.

Phillips M (2005) "Changing class complexions in and on the British countryside" Presentation to Annual Conference of the RGS (with IBG), London.

Phillips, M., Page, S., Saratsi, Moore, K. and Tansey, K. (2005) "Diversity, scale and green landscapes in the gentrification process: ecological and social science perspectives" Presentation to RELU Workshop People and the Environment: Scoping the Research Agenda, York.
http://www.relu.ac.uk/events/WorkshopMay05/2BPhillips.pdf

Phillips, M. (2005) "Gentrifying nature - an investigation of the social use and modification of nature in a Leicestershire village undergoing gentrification" Presentation to ‘Nature, Environment and Society: Rural Economy and Land Use Workshop’, University of Leicester, Leicester.

Phillips M (2005) "Rural gentrification and the production of nature: a case study from Middle England" Presentation to the 4th International Conference of Critical Geographers, Mexico City.

Phillips M, Page S and Saratsi E (2005) "Rural gentrification: moving from a building to a dwelling and living perspective" Presentation to the Annual Conference of the RGS (with IBG), London.

Saratsi, E. (2005) "Gentrifying nature: policy contexts" Presentation to Nature, Environment and Society: Rural Economy and Land Use Workshop, University of Leicester, Leicester.